Dental implant identification system

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/007,502, filed on Dec. 13, 2007.

The present disclosure relates to a dental implant identification system.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art and provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.

Dental implants are screwed or otherwise inserted into a prepared site in a jaw bone and serve as a fixture on which a prosthetic tooth or other dental appliance can be mounted. Dental implants have been in clinical use as a predictable treatment modality for more than 40 years and are well known in the art. Dental implants have various external shapes and generally fall into one of three categories including threaded (with different thread geometry and configurations), cylinders (with or without various features such as grooves, holes, etc.) and stepped. Additionally, dental implants can also be classified into two categories depending upon the connection at the neck into two broad categories including implants with external connections with different shapes, designs and configurations including hex, square, etc and implants with internal connections with different shapes designs and configurations including hex, octagon, tri-lobe and double helix.

Since the introduction of the concept of dental implants in the 1960s, the use of endosseous dental implants has gained significant popularity and exponential growth. The dental industry has responded to the increased demand by development and production of various implant systems of different external and internal features. In a review by Binon (in the International Journal of Oral Maxillofac Implants; 15:76-94), more than ninety root form dental implants were identified. Implants have a variety of diameters, lengths, surfaces, platforms, interfaces, and body designs. To date, it has been reported that there are in excess of two-hundred manufacturers of dental implants worldwide. While the dental field has benefited significantly from the evolutions and designs of dental implants, this growth has resulted in uncontrollable design variations with incompatibility between systems and designs. The lack of unified standards for the prosthetic interface poses a serious challenge for the dental professional in terms of serviceability of dental implant restorations. When the need arises to re-service an existing implant restoration, the clinician is often faced with the challenge of identifying the implant in terms of type, size, and interface. This challenge can become a serious problem if proper records of the patient\'s treatment were lacking. Several methods have been suggested to assist clinicians in identifying the implants. All of these methods rely on visual identification using radiographic images of brand-specific features by examination. This technique can be very confusing and requires the dentist to have in-depth knowledge of a myriad of dental implant systems, a task that is extremely difficult to keep up with.

The present disclosure provides a solution for the identification of dental implants used in patients by development of an identifying signature object such as a miniature radiofrequency chip or micro-electromechanical sensor which is placed inside the screw hole of the dental implant. This is accomplished at the time of manufacturing of the implant by the implant manufacturer. The identification information of the implant will be loaded on the circuitry of the signature object which will correspond to the make and type of the implant. A wireless reader is used to interrogate the tag for any information stored on the signature device, thus providing the clinician with useful identifying information. More specifically, the system consists of an RFID tag made up on a microchip with an antenna or other technology, and an interrogator or reader with an antenna. The reader sends out electromagnetic waves which activate the RFID tag. This passive RFID device draws power from the field created by the reader and uses it to power the microchip\'s circuits. The chip then modulates the waves that the tag sends back to the reader which converts the waves into digital data. The data transmitted contains basic identifying information on the particular implant being interrogated. The clinicians can then use the data transmitted by the RFID tag to identify the implant. This system relies on existing technology in the field of RFID tags. It relies on the passive RFID concept and provides a non-invasive method for the identification of implants without requiring the removal of the previously installed prosthetic tooth or implant.

Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

DRAWINGS

The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a side plan view of a dental implant according to the principles of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken longitudinally of the dental implant of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a detailed enlarged view of the head portion of the dental implant shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detail view of a portion of the threaded shank of the dental implant shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the head portion of the dental implant shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an end view of the threaded shank portion of the dental implant shown in FIG. 1;

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Implant having microgrooves and a method for preparing the same
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Improved dental implant
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